San Francisco

PAROL LANTERN FESTIVAL

How to build a Parol

10 Bamboo Sticks 5 Pegs Rubber Hot Glue Glue Cellophane Scisors

Bands Gun Stick

Building the frame

The first step is to get 2 of the bamboo sticks and tie one end together with rubberbands. Make 3 more bamboo
V's. You should end up with 4 bamboo V's and 2 left over sticks.

Next we make the star shape. To make it easier to understand how to do this the next images will be color coded.
Make a W shape with 2 of the V's with the left V overlapping the right V. Now bring over the right most stick so it
sandwiches one leg of the left V. With loose leg of the left V bring it under and combine it with the right V. Use a
rubber band and tie the point together. You should end up with an A shape.

Now with one of the single bamboo sticks, thread it through the center of the A. Make sure that all sticks overlap
each other. Repeat these steps and make another star. Now that you have 2 stars, combine them and tie all the
points together with rubber bands, forming one single star.

The Parol Lantern Festival is a project of the Filipino American Development Foundation
Notice that the center of the star frame is a pentagon. With the stars securely tied together with rubber bands ,
pull apart the center of the frame. Place one peg at each of the point of the pentagon. To secure the pegs we
need to use hot glue. Put the hot glue where the peg meets the frame. Be sure to get both sides of the peg. Now
we have a completed Parol frame.

Decorate the Parol

Use the glue stick to put down a good amount of glue on the center of the frame. Now we put the cellophane.
You want to do as less cutting as possible. Line up the straight edge of the cellophane with one of the bamboo
sticks, so now you only need to cut 4 sides instead of 5. Use your scissors and cut the extra cellophane from the
center of the frame. You don't need to cut too close just do a rough cut around the edge.

Put some glue on the loose bits of cellophane and rap it underneath the bamboo to get a clean edge. Now cover
the center of the reverse side of the star. Once that is done we start decorating the points of the parol. Put glue
on front and reverse side of a point. Then place the cellophane.

Keep repeating this step until you have all the edges of your parol covered. Now we finish the parol by covering
the front face of the star. Put glue around the one point (the triangle) of the parol. Place a piece of cellophane on
the point of the star making sure that the straight edge is on the center of the star. This is so you don't have to
cut in the center of the parol. Now repeat for the rest of the points of the parol.
The Parol Lantern Festival is a project of the Filipino American Development Foundation